Religious Accommodation Could Include Sundays Off From Work

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently settled a lawsuit against American Medical Response in which the EEOC alleged that the company refused to grant an employee’s request for a religious accommodation and then terminated his employment.  The EEOC’s Complaint claimed that the employee, who is a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, had requested Sundays off of work for worship.  The company initially allowed this request but then later stopped accommodating the request and fired the employee.  This alleged conduct is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees because of their sincerely held religious beliefs and requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for such religious beliefs.  See EEOC v. American Medical Response, No. 2:17-cv-02725 (W.D. Tenn.).